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Re: 101312 usurpation attempt

Originally Posted by BeeGhost

From what ive read the german blacks are pretty aggressive!!

yeah, that's what i remember my neighbor saying about them too, (haven't had a chance to talk to him yet). since ahb's are bad about usurping hives and also mean, i am wondering if this is a combined genetic trait shared by the mean old black bees and ahb.

i am also wondering if i could have dna testing done on this queen. i though about checking with the folks down at auburn university about it.

it would be nice to know if this is a survivor of those old dark bees, or maybe the ingress of ahb genes.

journaling the growth of a treatment free apiary started in 2010. 20+/- hives

Re: 101312 usurpation attempt

Re: 101312 usurpation attempt

Years ago I used to work with AMM's, they did not try to usurp other hives.

Also, if it was a usurpation attempt, the dead queen would likely be from the target hive rather than the attacker. I think the queen is a carniolan, not that it's really possible to tell from the pic, but just there's not many AMM's around now, anywhere varroa has gone.

Re: 101312 usurpation attempt

Fusion Power on this site says there are Amm in his area...he's in AL or LA.

I would guess they're AHB if it was truly an attempt at usurpation. Wing vein patterns can be checked for % probability of african genes.

Originally Posted by Oldtimer

Years ago I used to work with AMM's, they did not try to usurp other hives.

Also, if it was a usurpation attempt, the dead queen would likely be from the target hive rather than the attacker. I think the queen is a carniolan, not that it's really possible to tell from the pic, but just there's not many AMM's around now, anywhere varroa has gone.

Re: 101312 usurpation attempt

Wouldn't Occum's Razor indicate AHB. A. AHB are known to do this, usurp. B. German Black Bees, aka apis mellifera mellifera are not known to usurp. C. Amm are extremely rare is not nonexistant anymore. Therefore, does it not follow that this is probably an AHB invasion?

Like Michael Palmer wrote, they can be tested to determine %AHB. Collect a sample of bees from under the bottom board into a jar of alchohol and send them to be tested. Check w/ your State Apiarist for how best to do that.

Re: 101312 usurpation attempt

oldtimer, the queen is dead because i killed her. she was in a very small cluster below the hives, apparantly waiting for the usurpation to play out.

mp, i would like to have someone check this queen out, any suggestions? fusion power is in the next county over, maybe he will chime in.

mark, luckily, i caught this happening not long after it started. there were maybe 50 - 100 dead bees on the ground below hive 3. i thought about saving some, but i assumed it would have been a mix of usurpers and hive 3 bees.

another thought.... there have been several very small swarms issuing from hives in my area within this last several weeks. i determined that one of these from my yard was not a reproductive or overcrowding swarm, but rather a supercedure where the queen left with a few 'loyal attendents', as walt wright put it.

could this usurpation attempt really just have been one of these fall supercedures desperate for a place to go?

journaling the growth of a treatment free apiary started in 2010. 20+/- hives